JustinGameDesign made a fun group of 8-bit sprites for the spooky season, with characters from a wide array of sources. He even put them into a nice deviantART gallery so you can see them all in the same spot!

As usual, all new items have been added to the GFX Generators so you can use them to make your own fake screenshots. Also, Leatherface was updated with an Atari 2600 palette, thanks to a suggestion from Christopher B. Thanks!

One special thing I’ve been saving for this update event is a couple of commission sprites I made earlier this year for a special event. Rob “Dire” Strangman (creator of the OPCFG and the West Mansion sites) and Karry Blank asked me to make these sprites for some of their wedding cards and gave me permission to post the sprites:

Look at the smiles on those faces! I was proud that a couple would want me to make sprites for their wedding, and I still smile like a goof when seeing these. Congratulations again, you two!

So I made my first pixel print earlier this year, the Horror vs. Horror (I still don’t have a good name for that yet) title screen, which can be ordered here for $6 + S&H, nudge nudge, wink wink.

It used a mix of sprites I made for earlier horror-themed site updates along with some new stuff. I’m not sure how this happened, but Dread Central and Bloody Disgusting reported on it and it led to some sales! That was one of the few good things to happen during a pretty bad time (short version: I was kinda broke and injured), so everyone involved still has my thanks for making things better!
Did you enjoy your Werewolf Break? If you managed to read this far, you deserve a werewolf.

The return of the most turd-curdling time of the year also means that it’s time for another DangerTerrorHorrorThon!

This Halloween’s DangerTerrorHorrorThon kicks off with an invasion of the living dead! Zombies are really played out right now now, so I’m dipping back into the past for inspiration, including one of the only universally-loved fast-moving zombies.

Game fans all over the internet are celebrating the #Happy30thNES event (thanks to PlatinumFungi) on their websites and on Twitter. Made to honor the 30th Anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System, the event is a chance for us to show and tell why we love that gray box of 8-bit magic. I’ve done my part by making 30 new NES-like sprites based on a few of my favorite NES games while using colors from the original sprites:

You can find the separate sprites (and an extra sprite that didn’t make the cut) in the new NES-like 32 gallery.

No offense to my Atari 2600 and ColecoVision, but the NES was the first system I owned that could play the kinds of games that inspired me to make this site. Platformers, beat ’em ups, run ‘n guns and similar genres really started to come into their own at that time and the Nintendo Entertainment System was one of the best ways to play those games at home. It’s the beginning of what I consider to be the sweet spot of action games becoming adventures while still being unashamed of being games. That’s probably why we still see new games using the look and feel of those NES classics and it’s definitely a big part of why many of us are celebrating its 30th anniversary today.

Help spread the word about the event if you can and feel free to talk about your own Nintendo favorites in the comments section!

Articles: I’ve had this page about Rob Strangman’s Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman book for a long time, but didn’t finish it until now. It’s made in the old, abandoned game review format because of a few jokes in the info section that I thought were funny at the time (sigh). As it says on the page, I’m probably a bit biased because I drew the cover, but I really dug that book and the voice it gives to various parts of the video game community. The article is here and I hope you give Rob’s book a chance!

Arcade Quartermaster’s latest batch of game shrines is monster-themed and features Night Slashers (one of my favorites), Kiki KaiKai (Taito’s original Pocky and Rocky game), Laser Ghost and Nightmare in the Dark.

You know, we’ve had a lot of fun here today, but it’s time to get serious. Dead serious.

So Transformers: Devastation, a game that sounds more like a wish (G1 Transformers with classic voice actors and developed by Platinum Games) than reality, is now available and there’s no way I wasn’t going to celebrate.

A small-scale G1 Optimus Prime joins the site, crash-landing in the Toys and ‘Toons gallery until the Transformers get their own gallery. Meanwhile, new sprites of Alyssa from the Guardian Legend/Guardic Gaiden and Samus Aran from Metroid join the fight! Look, someone in futuristic armor who curls up into a ball like a potato bug counts as a Transformer, alright? All three have been added to the GFX Generator. Optimus is the only Transformer on the site right now, but you may get some more toys this Christmas…

Here’s a taste of what I’ve been messing around with for the past month:

Just like the last one, almost nothing in the video is final. I still have a lot to learn with Anime Studio Pro 10, but I think you can tell I’ve been having fun with it. Oddly enough, I made three new sprites mainly for a clip in the video, but the scene didn’t have enough people to match the clip it followed. It’s a good thing that I left it out, because the so-called surprise would’ve wound up being the preview display pic.

Kickstarter alert: Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan is an exciting action/RPG hybrid with 2-D beautiful graphics. It has 14 days left to be funded and still needs help to be published.

A lot of work has already gone into the game and it shows in every frame. If you like what you see and can afford to help, please visit their Kickstarter page and donate!